A Glass Half Full of Poison
by juanafever
Summary: Sarah is back home, but a not all is as it seems. Every unwise wish has a price.
1. Chapter 1

A plot bunny been demanding I write this before I continue with correction and update of my other stories.

Hope you enjoy it!

A Glass Half Full of Poison

By

_juanafever_

* * *

"… _you precious little thing_…"

The girl shuts her eyes tightly as she swallows another sob.

She is tired. She is so very tired.

The voice.

"…_my little Sarah_…"

It's nowhere and it's everywhere. In the shadows of the darkened room. In the wind outside the window. In the air around her.

Sarah rests her forehead against the blessedly cool glass. Her ragged breath leaving mist on the glass.

"I won…" her voice trembles as she speaks. So tired… Her skin burns underneath the damp cloth.

Somewhere a clock strikes three. The heavy sound goes thru the empty hallways like a ghost. Unpleasantly loud and it makes her shiver.

Maybe she should try going further? But behind every door all she ever found was an empty room, a deserted hallway. Dead end after dead end. It was like she was walking in circles.

"You can't do this to me. You can't… " her voice breaks and she can't speak anymore watching the red moon rise. A cold gust of wind caresses the pale face.

"Don't you like my castle, Sarah?" the disembodied voice was full of the mock hurt as it bounced off the walls making her skin crawl.

Sarah closed her eyes not being able to watch the sky. It looked like it was bleeding. Such beautiful sight such an eerie omen. The cold ghostly light sliding down her frame.

The crimson orb is fully up tainting the sky with its unnatural light, as if by its command a clock strikes thirteen. There is that weird gut twisting feeling again that takes a hold on her. The skin doesn't burn anymore it freezes now the sweat turning to frost before her eyes… and by gods it _hurt_! Like she was being torn in half. There was no air to breath it burned her lungs yet the tears were frozen rivers down her cheeks.

"_Oh God I want to wake up! Wake up! Wake up!_" she was so scared.

And always when she thought she couldn't take it anymore and it felt like it lasted for hours she woke up. Sweat rolling of her in buckets making the nightdress stick to the heated skin.

The air in her lungs is thick and heavy smelling like rust, cold stone and magic…

Sarah lays motionless in her bed breathing heavily. Eyes wide and full of fear as she watches the morning light slowly creep into the room.

"Dreams are not real…" she whispers and her voice sounds coarse and alien in the silent room. "Not real… not real… " the soft glow of morning sun was chasing the shadows away and Sarah's heart finally stopped trying to jump out her throat, but when she closed her eyes the world was still tainted red...

* * *

Karen puts the large bowl full of cool water on the nightstand besides Sarah's bed. The hour is growing late and she prefers to be ready. The girl, her stepdaughter, is laying in the bed breathing unevenly as if every gulp of air is an effort.

"Do you want to drink some water, Sarah?" '_God she's so white!_' unnaturally pale skin seemed to glow in the semi dark room.

Sarah was ill. The kind of sickness that no doctor could find a cure for nor a cause. No medicine could make the child better. On the contrary it seemed to make matters worse until Karen couldn't take watching Sarah suffer even more.

"Yes, water. You don't have to stay with me tonight, Karen. I will be fine, honest." Sarah was such a poor liar. Karen breath hitched at the haunted look on her face.

"No worries, Sarah. I'll leave as soon as you fall asleep."

Sarah's hands tremble and the water spills on her night dress. Curse escapes her lips as she fails to hold the glass straight. The night is setting in and there are tears in the girl's eyes.

Karen moves quickly and is pressing a dry towel to the stain to absorb the moisture. What she wouldn't give for the night to disappear. To make time skip and darkness not to settle outside tonight.

"It's just water, Sarah. Just water…" The older woman is struggling with words as she sees small droplets of sweat form on her stepdaughter's forehead and her eyes dart to the window where behind the glass full moon is rising in the night sky.

She shouldn't believe in curses and bad omens, Karen reminds herself as she takes the glass from Sarah's hands that are shaking visibly now.

Karen really shouldn't believe in many more things, but Sarah is sick so often now and somehow it is always worse when the moon is full. She turns and trashes with fever in delusional dreams that never brings rest. Sometimes she is burning sometimes her hands feels freezing. Sleeping pills makes her vomit, medicine to bring down the fever give her nose bleed, antidepressant to easy her into sleep give her rash that lasts for weeks.

'_But that is not the worse'_. Karen thought bitterly as she tucked Sarah in. It's the fear and the tears that follow once the night is gone and that Sarah never speaks about the dreams.

So now they just wait it out. Karen sits with her when the sun sets and the shadows grow long. Karen hates night now. Sarah's silent desperate tears, in those nightmares that wouldn't end until the sun is up, breaks her heart anew every night.

Slowly patiently Karen puts a damp cloth on Sarah's forehead as the girl closes her eyes. It will be a long night.

"Do you think I'm a bad person, Karen?" The woman jumps up slightly from surprise. Sarah never speaks once the sunlight disappears from the room, especially on the nights of full moon.

"What? No, of course not." Karen smiles. Maybe she was getting better, even if just a bit.

"And before?"

"Never. I never thought you to be a bad person. Spoiled sometimes, but never bad." There is a smile on Sarah's face as she is looking at Karen.

"Sometimes spoiled?" A weak and fragile hope settles in Karen's heart and she allows herself that indulgence. It has been a six months and this little smile and a joke was the first coherent response she have received after endless sunsets. "I was so terrified when you brought him home… he was so small and he was always crying… like… like he really didn't like me." Sarah is not looking at her anymore and looks guilty. The surprise at the honest statement is brief and Karen is left open mouthed for barely a sec. So that was it. Such a simple reason for so much grief. Why haven't she thought of that?

"Oh Sarah… Babies are like that. It is not personal. He loves you a great deal. He truly does." The woman gently brushes the hair from Sarah's damp forehead and could feel the shivers that were under her stepdaughter's skin.

"Do you mind if I tell you a story? No… I want you to hear a story. I…" Sarah was rocking back and forth with hands on her knees staring at the wrinkled sheets. "Yes …I will tell you a story, Karen."

"Sarah…" Karen didn't know what to do. This have never happened before, but the look on Sarah's face it was determination mixed with fear and covered in sweat and just a glint, a spark of delusion in those beautiful emerald eyes. "Of course, tell me."

The foreboding came over Karen like a fine rain and she could taste it in her mouth all of a sudden like sand and ash. She did not want to hear the story. It was somehow frightening. For why one should be afraid to hear a child's tale?

"Once upon a time lived a girl… she was spoiled and childish and selfish… and lonely and didn't want the world around her to change." Sarah was looking at her gain, confusion on the pale face as if she was uncertain of her own words. "I mean… isn't it better when the things don't change? "

Karen wanted to object, but something in the girl's voice told her that Sarah wasn't speaking to her.

"So when her father remarried and she got a stepmother and a baby brother. The things changed! How stupid!" it was as if Karen caught a glimpse of Sarah as she was a year ago, so angry and resentful. "And they wanted her to look after a baby one evening. The baby…" Just as Sarah's voice turned angry it turned soft and tender as if she was about to cry. "It was so tiny and it cried for no reason. She was scared. What did she do wrong? The baby shouldn't cry if all was right? Right? But it did when ever she looked after him… Wouldn't have it been better if the things haven't changed? So… she was there… alone with the crying baby… and… and…" it was harder to speak but Sarah pushed forward in a whisper and Karen leaned forward to hear her. "She _wished_."

After uttering the word Sarah clasped both hands over her mouth and looked alarmed as if the floor was about to swallow her.

"Sarah, maybe…" Karen didn't like it.

"She said the words, Karen. The Right Words. Just to make him stop crying. She didn't mean it." Her voice was small. "She truly didn't, she read them in the book and was spellbound. A fairytale to make all troubles go away. Who wouldn't be enchanted? She put the baby to the crib… and she heard it. The rustle, the creek, the scrapping, the tapping. The goblins moving around and the baby was gone! Gone… but she didn't mean it! … He came dressed in armor made of shadows and thunder sung him praise in the violence of the storm. And he held the words spoken against her like cold steel."

Karen wanted to speak, but couldn't. She was bound by Sarah's eyes again so full of fear and anger.

'_This is mad. She believes it… No… maybe it is just the night and sickness coming over her.'_

"And she said '_You are him…_' and he laughed… and it was like needles on her skin, but she begged '_please give the baby back to me if that is all the same_' and he said '_what is said is said'_ and his voice was like the edge of the blade as he said '_I brought you a gift'_…. So tempting. So very tempting. '_What is it_?' the foolish girl asked. He smiled thus the wider '_If you turn it this way it will show you your dreams. But it is not a gift for an ordinary girl that takes care of a crying baby.'"_ Sarah's voice grew grave.

"A trick a catch a price for a gift. But his eyes… oh, Karen, his eyes were lying and shone like stars so bright and cold… and the baby was crying somewhere.

'_Give me back the baby' she said. 'Please.' _The crystal turned into a snake and he tossed… tossed! It at the girl and she thought her heart would stop but it turned to a scarf and she was scared and he was angry. '_Very well'_ he said and gave 13 hours to reach the very heart of the Labyrinth and she ran… and ran… and he kept cheating! What kind of king was he?" Sarah nearly choked on a sob.

"The Trickster, the Liar, The Deceiver, horrible things wrapped in pretty words. The King of Goblins he is. He holds unwise words against you. Have you ever heard of the Labyrinth?" Karen nearly jumped out of her skin as Sarah turned sharply to her again and just shook her head.

"It is vast. When she stood there On the hill before the first wall she was terrified and then all those turns and dead end and passages that disappear as soon as you turn away!"

"Sarah, please…" Karen's voice was small. One should not fear a tale. She kept telling herself. But all she felt was cold and all she could see was emerald green. The fear was so pure that you could smell it. But Sarah did not hear her.

"And friends, Karen! The girl made friends! A dwarf, a rock calling beast and a fox knight! Such strange things and they helped her get to the Castle." Sarah's voice dropped. " They helped her against the wishes of the Goblin King. The King… The King… The Cheat. He made one of them give her a poisoned fruit and she dreamed of a grand ball and dances and masks of many colors… all that just to make her forget about the baby… She broke the spell into million pieces and all of it was gone, but she reached the City at the Center of the Labyrinth. The City of Goblins… and there she had a battle. For every grand tale has to have at least one, right? And after it she found him… in a room of ups and downs and endless stairs. His words were such pretty pretty lies… such beautiful liar. But just his eyes… so cold like dead stars, like sudden frost on apple blossoms. So cold they burned… the eyes of a Liar King. Such pretty words he spoke to sway her. To steal the time that she had left, yet it was not to be. The girl won, Karen. "

Sarah sat there on the bed still like a statue just the sweat was rolling down her temples.

"Thru hardships unnumbered and dangers untold she won the child back and took him home... Home. A trick a catch a price for a gift. Always the Deceiver, the King of Goblins. Every unwise wish has a price… a penance… "

"But?"

"She was told… not all things are as they seem. Sometimes… But she won! Won, Karen! She came back. They should not…. No. there should not be a way in-between. Not If she won…"

"They who?"

"The Goblins of course. Karen, do you believe in goblins?"

"Goblins?" the woman was at the loss what to say to that.

"Yes, Karen, goblins. They are a weird bunch. Strange little things. Fierce and terribly loyal. But the funny thing is… they are as you think of them… I… her…" Sarah finally slipped and bit her tongue but there was nothing to be done." I thought they were childish. Child like little monsters. Very stupid to think that, very lucky that I did for that is how I managed to get to the Castle. How strange… How very strange… I sometimes hear them around in the house but…"

"Goblins are not real, Sarah. You are not well, and this old house can make some strange noises that make even my skin crawl. It is the wooden structure."

"No… a house doesn't snicker or laugh. I am sure…" The room was spinning.

"Sarah? My goodness, Sarah, lay down…"

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Please let me know what you think. Review!


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

* * *

Sarah slept and did not stir until the sun was up. Face vixen and pale. Karen wasn't sure what to think. Somehow this new development was worse than all the trashing and whimpering. Her stepdaughter looked frozen. The shadows were dancing around the room and Karen was worried to leave the girl alone, but even step-mothers need to sleep. The rocking chair in which she used to feed Toby in was comfortable and she managed to drag it next to Sarah's bed. Blanket in tow she settled for the night.

It was hours before Karen fell asleep. Like a bad joke the weariness she was feeling prevented her from finally resting. So she sat there, wrapped in fluffy blanket, watching. Sarah's voice spinning in her head.

'_A trick a catch a price for a gift… His eyes… his eyes, Karen! So cold, like dead starts…_'

A memory half forgotten, like a little spider, stirred in the corner of her mind as she was dozing off.

"Eyes so cold…" just out reach of her conscious mind was a recollection that would make sense if she were to remember, it was about to disappear as quickly as it appeared. "A trickster… " She was asleep.

* * *

Karen didn't often dream. Having a small child, a household to run and a sick girl on her hands, she was happy to get to sleep altogether. Surely everyone dreamed at one point or another she was no different than the next tired mother.

It was the first time that in a dream Karen new that she was dreaming. It was a novel experience. It felt as real as it was surreal. Like she had been there before. The bleak street solidified and colors thickened until Karen knew where she stood.

* * *

Somebody was shaking her. Karen jerked awake with a gasp and sweat rolling down her back.

"What?"

Sarah, in a bathrobe and wet hair, was staring at her with concerned expression.

"You ok? Sorry to wake you up, but you need to take Toby to nursery. Dad already left for work. Little guy been fed, dressed and ready to go."

Karen looked around a little bleary eyed. "What is the time?"

"Time to get up. Take a shower, I will try to get some more porridge into the little might. I am sorry you had to sleep here…"

Karen rubbed her neck. It hurt.

"Did you sleep well, Sarah?"

"Not too bad." As always the girl didn't sound convincing. "Can I go to the movies this evening?"

"Sarah…"

"Oh, please! I slept well! Honest! I will be back before you know it."

"Maybe next time, Sarah…"

"That is not fair!"

"I am not having you passing out somewhere."

"I will be fine. I swear, I don't even remember what I dreamed of tonight."

"What do you usually dream of?"

Sarah just stood there with her mouth open for a sec like somebody punched her in the stomach.

"I don't remember." A bold faced lie. Karen could tell. She always could.

"Sarah…"

"I will go check on Toby." The retreat was fast and Karen rubbed her temples angrily. What on earth possessed her to ask such a question? They agreed long time ago not to speak about what ever nightmares Sarah was having. Trust can be so easily broken and Karen feared she did just that.

* * *

'_The __trickster, the liar, the deceiver, the King of Goblins…' _Karen slammed the car doors angrily. She was in a persistent bad mood since the morning. This time around Karen's own dreams were haunting her. Merlin looked at her odd when she finally dragged the groceries inside. The big old house felt cold and empty. Everything irritated her and the lack of proper rest was slowly driving her up the wall. There was no other explanation. She was drained. The whole situation with Sarah was squeezing last drops of energy from her. It really did.

Her own worry had nothing to do with last night's surfaced memory. Nothing at all. It was silly to think that. She got Sarah the book. Yes. It was a harmless present. A book! She couldn't even recall what it was about just the fact that Sarah read it quite often after.

'_Eyes so cold…_' a shiver ran down her spine. It was the lack of sleep. Honestly. She was being childish. All the medical training was telling her all she needed to know. Rest depravation can make one paranoid. It was very simple. It was pure coincident.

There was a very rational explanation to the fact that she had the keys in the ignition. A rational explanation why she was speeding across the city. There was a rational explanation why she was hitting the brakes in a place she had no reason of being. There was a rational explanation why she was marching up and down the street like a lost child. There really was an explanation and it was very rational. The only problem was that Karen was yet to come up with it.

The city was bustling around her. People rushing around, the light conversations, laughter, the stray curse word, someone yelling at the hot dog vendor, the horn of the cars passing by in the street. Life was taking place in its usual chaotic manner.

In all that bustle and all that hustle it seemed that only Karen was standing suddenly still, yet the world around kept rushing seemingly forgetting that she was there.

Karen was gripping her handbag with both hands trying to come with a good reason why she was standing there. Why she was feeling so scared? Why it seemed that being here was so important?

It was the lack of sleep. Karen kept repeating in her mind. It had nothing to do with her being here three years ago. Nothing. Nothing at all.

Flashback….

Robert was such a nice man, one of the nicest that she has ever met and it was an important night. She was going to meet his daughter from the first marriage. Sarah. Her palms were sweating. It was such an unexpected invitation to join them for dinner. It would be their first time informing the girl of their relationship. It was like meeting the parents of her very first boyfriend. She giggled nervously. The nerves shouldn't be this bad after her own two failed marriages, but this time round she really thought it could work out. For her it was going to be a big evening and it was important to find a right present for the girl as she knew that Sarah just had a birthday.

Robert always stressed how much Sarah read. Karen's experience with children was limited to the training in nursing covering their care. So she was going to stick with what she knew. If the girl liked reading a new book would never go amiss. The only problem that she was really pressed on time. Changing and quickly showering after work Karen was on the urgent hunt for books stores. It was nearly eight and everything was closed. Her annoyance was going up by the minute. Surely there was a place open at this hour. Ah! Yes.

Finally a success. The woman was quite pleased with herself. A small rather old looking shop still had light on and the large OPEN sigh still in its door. Karen rushed in not daring to risk it closing before her eyes. The first thing that she noted once her eyes adjusted to the dim light was tons and heaps of books. They literally were everywhere. Stacked on, around, and under all and any surface. Some of the stacks touched the sealing making them look like uneven columns.

"Ah, how delightful of you to come in."

Karen jumped up from the sudden sound of the voice. It was nowhere. It was disconcerting. Like it belonged to air itself. Pulling herself together Karen coughed politely still trying to locate the source of the voice.

"Good evening. I am looking for a book."

"Only a _good_ evening? I would call it splendid. Such an evening only comes once every third blue moon."

Suddenly Karen wasn't sure if coming in here was a good idea. The voice floated from all directions disorienting her and when finally she spotted a person casually leaning against an enormous stack of books the feeling of being out of place intensified.

"Well, yes… I guess it is splendid. Like I said…"

"Oh, yes. I did hear you. Looking for a book. As you can see, there is plenty of books here. None of which are for sale."

Now that really took Karen aback. Her mind quickly went back to the dusty bookstore sign. She did enter a bookstore, right? They did usually sell books, right? She looked around the strange room stuffed full of books and back to the man that was watching her oddly, almost expectantly.

"You do not sell books?"

"A jest of course." The man's grin got wider. "But I am willing to make good on my word and make a gift." His eyes were all that she could see. They held her captive and in a not a pleasant way. "Wouldn't you say that a book is a fine gift for a young lady?"

"Yes, yes it is… I was just…"

Karen could swear with a hand on her heart that a moment ago he didn't a have a book in his hands.

"I can assure you, nothing brings more joy to a curious mind then an captivating book. And as a matter of fact there is one that does just that." One single blink of an eye and he was standing closer offering a book elegantly bound in red leather.

"I can not possibly…"

"Oh, I am sure you can't. But it is a fine gift that is meant to be enjoyed and savored." Upon seeing Karen falter the man added in matter of fact manner. "It is rude to refuse a gift."

"It is not for me." Karen tried to focus but his voice seemed to hold her captive.

"All the more reasons to accept. I assure you, it is not a gift for an ordinary girl."

Sarah. She was going to be her stepdaughter one day. A nice gift goes a long way, besides where she was going to find another place at this hour? Her hands moved on their own to grasp the gift.

"That is very kind of you, Mr…?"

"The hour is late. And this splendid evening draws night. My most heartfelt wishes goes with this gift, please, deliver it safely."

* * *

Karen was standing outside the dusty window, internally scolding herself. She didn't even remember how the man looked, for goodness sake! Not a single detail of his appearance remained I her mind. Just that his eyes were the coldest thing she seen in all of her years and that his voice was most enchanting that she ever heard... It meant nothing! Such detail served no purpose. She should turn around get into her car, and go home, and pay the electricity bill that just came in this morning.

Still angry with herself the woman pushed the door open and stepped in. The place was just as she remember which rationally didn't made sense with the amount of time that have passed since her visit.

The dim lighting was not helping in navigating the around the stacks and only now Karen realized that it was emitted by candles.

"Who in the world lights candles in a bookshop?"

"Magnificent . You finally graced us with your presence. "

Karen jerked in the direction of the voice. A Man was sitting in an oversized arm chair regarding her coldly. An expensive black suit contrasted sharply with his sleeked back blond hair.

"I … I…" Karen was rooted in place by the unmasked hostility and coldness radiating from that person.

"Yes, Karen, you. Took your sweet time getting here."

"How do you..? Who are you?" Coming here was a bad idea. Very bad idea. Karen thought numbly while mentally counting how long it would take for her to dash to the door.

"Since you are back. You know as well as I, that your question is mute." And his smiled. Karen would have reacted better if he had hit her. The shadows stirred around him and there were whispers in the dark corners of the room just out of her sight. Karen had to lean on the nearest stack of books to prevent herself from keening over. It was a dream. A bad dream. There was no such things like Kings of Goblins that…

"You… bastard!" Karen's all body was suddenly shaking from both anger and fear. "You stole my son! How dare you?! How…"

"Quiet!" the word cut thru air and silenced her effectively. "The child was wished away. I do not steal. "

* * *

Please review! What do you think about it? Let me know!


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